Omniscient
by Revantio Van Cario
Summary: Naruto and Shikamaru's friendship began like this; Naruto said to Shikamaru, "you have stars in your eyes. But your shadow's ebony dark. Darker than anyone's. Is it the stars or the shadow which makes you smart?" / Naruto sees things and speaks nonsense. Luckily, Shikamaru is there to save the day. [Omniscient (Adj): infinitely wise. AU.]
1. Chapter 1

_His blue eyes widened, and his hand moved to touch one of golden plates (armor, his excited mind whispered, armor made of pure gold) which hangs loosely on Hokage Jiji's body but to little Naruto's disappointment, his little fingers doesn't touch anything (they passed his fingers like they don't even exist) and when he blinks, it's to see Jiji's frown._

 _But Naruto ignored his frown and quickly grinned, "Your armor is so cool, Jiji!"_

 _The Sandaime raised an eyebrow, "Armor, Naruto-kun?"_

 _"Yeah! Golden armor!" He nods excitedly, and peered over Hokage's back, where a golden, giant monkey hovers with an amused smile behind his surrogate grandfather's chair; glowing softly under sunshine from the window. Naruto's blue eyes glanced back to the golden armor; golden lines which stained with black and purple and brown—Naruto scrunched up his nose in distaste. "It's a bit rusty though, but i'm sure mister golden monkey there could fix it for you'ttebayo!"_

 _His grandfather laughed, and the golden monkey grinned. Naruto grinned too, mimicking the golden monkey's toothy grin._

 _(In the years to come, the armor hasn't been fixed; the rust grew and Naruto could only watch, unable to do anything, aunable to even touch (_ _it's not rust it's snake's poison) as it drags the Hokage down, and the armor screeched in a glorious tone of death.)_

.

.

It was when he's eight years old, that he realized; _oh_ , no other people can see.

Because for little Naruto, the world is very, very, _very_ colorful and noisy for him. The wind sings a song (an _aria_ ) which only he could hear; told tales about Samurais in White Land, Travelers from The Desert, and many, many more. Sometimes he could hear the giggles of the fae (those young faeries-translucent kids floating around with ghostly wings), ever so slightly, causing confusion to people and many other pranks which sometimes _not_ fun; like making people angry, whispering things to people which makes them sad. Sometimes he could hear the jingling, _cold_ rusty chain and a faint growl from _everywhere_ around him; this usually happens when Naruto is angry so he learned to mostly contain his anger as best as he can.

And the people—well, there are so many things about people around him he doesn't even know where to begin.

The Orphanage's Matrons always have at least one fae who giggles and whispers; and then they will get angry at Naruto, or punish him for doing nothing.

("Hey! Stop that! Tha' not funny!" Naruto hollered once, pointing and scowling at the fae perched on one matron's shoulder.

Then the fae began cackling, screeching in happiness even; and Naruto feels his blood runs cold. The Orphanage Matron 's face contorts to one of pure disdain right before she yelled at Naruto. That he would not get any dinner for today. )

Did Naruto mention that he hated the fae? No? Well, the fae are mostly the reason why the village hate him. He's sure of it. Because every time a villager looks at Naruto, one (or two, or even three) fae at least would appear and started to whisper things on their ears. Things which caused them to lash out violently to him.

But other than the fae, people around Naruto always looks.. colorful.

Hokage-Jiji, for example. He always have Golden Armor on top of his white robe. Golden, ethereal, golden armor, carved with markings which Naruto doesn't understand yet fascinate him to no end. Sometimes, there's a golden, equally ethereal monkey which hovers on two feet behind his Jiji, silently observes them. The monkey never talks, not even once, but he does grins to Naruto and he's content with that. And that's only his Jiji.

Once, Jiji brought him to a doctor. He was a kind man; there are no fae around him even when he looks at Naruto for more than fifteen minutes. When the doctor touched Naruto's bleeding ankle (there's a red, glowing butterfly which Naruto follows to the forest, he ended up falling down to a rock instead), green sparks covers his hand, then those lights turned to strings, which then moves on their own to stitch Naruto's wound, healing him completely. That was _so_ awesome.

("What's that green strings, Jiji?! That's so cool, tebayo!"

"...you mean chakra, Naruto?"

"Nah, that green sparks which turned to strings!"

"...i believe we call those green strings healing chakra, Naruto-kun."

But Naruto doesn't listen; as Hokage-Jiji drags him out of the hospital, he continue his ramblings about green string which feels warm, and he asked if there are any more colors than green. Jiji answered they are mostly blue, but they can't stitch the wound. Naruto is more excited.)

Once, he sees a ninja with black stains all over his body. Black stains and chain; the ninja with green vest who always passes his orphanage every Friday at four hours sharp looks more and more pale with every passing week. Naruto is curious, really. Honestly, Naruto planned to confront him (because he looks friendly; he looks at Naruto once and the fae-well only one fae get closer to him; giggling, but not whispering) and asks him if about the black stains but then the man never came again. Not even two weeks after. Not even _two_ months after. Naruto asked his Jiji then, describing the man, asking his whereabouts. The Monkey behind Hokage-Jiji perked up, interested, while Jiji looks worried.

"That's fine, Jiji. I want to ask him something because he's been nice to me." Naruto hesitantly says, "I can't do that?"

Jiji huffed in relief, yet Naruto knows he's still wary; but nods and read the ninja's file to Naruto.

The man was dead. Two months ago, a mission gone awry and the only thing that remains from the man is simply his corpse—his ash, reserved by his family—and his name.

And Naruto thinks, _oh_.

 _Oh_. So that's what the stains are. It—(Naruto swallows heavily) It _announces_ death. There are similar stains too on one other people which Naruto knows—his ANBU guard Inu. But it's not black stains; it's dull grey, and sometimes red, which covers all his body. And Inu's skin never turned ashen-white like that ninja's even if the stains are always there. Sometimes, Naruto could see ropes—vines? Which tangles his body, tangles his skin and draws blood, even. And his left eye—it never feels _right_.

("What happened to your left eye, Inu-san?"

It was probably the only thing he got a reaction from the stoic ANBU. His guard's body abruptly stiffened for a second, before it relaxed again. Still, the ANBU doesn't answer. Yeah, Naruto understands if they are not supposed to talk to him, but still...

"...It..." Naruto hesitates, "It's not... yours.. right?"

Because Naruto could see red and purple blotches on the mask where Inu-san's left eye should be; blotches which connected to a very, _very_ translucent, red string, to somewhere far, far away which Naruto's eyes can't reach.

Naruto feels guilty because Inu-san disappeared and then doesn't visit him again for three months straight.)

But other than Inu-san, Naruto tried his best—really, he did—to avoid people from dying. Every time he sees someone with familiar black stains and chains, he shouted at them; "Be careful 'tebayo!" "I think you should just go home!" "Don't get out and stay in home from now on!" "You are sick 'tebayo! Stay in your home!"

Yet, with every shout, with every warnings, the people grew more and more wary; more and more angry. The fae cackled louder and louder—up until a point where _he_ is the one who got followed by those fae (they are _mocking_ him) and he's not able to hear the wind's aria anymore.

( "STOP! STOP! STOP! _STOP_! LEAVE! I SAID LEAVE! _LEAVE_! LEAVE ME _ALONE_!"

There are sounds of rumbling and chains, but even those are dampened by dozens of fae screeching around him. Naruto covers his ears with his hands and he closed his eyes but even then it was not enough to stop him from hearing. It was maddening. It was chaos.

It was his _Jiji_ , thundering inside his room in the orphanage and held him close. It was his warm golden armor and Naruto, as tired as he is, sleeps in his grandfather's hands.)

So, seven years old Naruto decided; he doesn't care anymore. Obviously he cannot live with those fae breathing down his neck with those giggles, obviously he cannot live without calm moments of listening to wind singing or simply seeing colors wisps and dance around him. Obviously he doesn't want to see his Jiji's face so grave and grim for another week. If it's not people who he cares; like Jiji, or Inu-san, or Boar-san, or that one kind orphanage matron, then Naruto wouldn't do anything.

The fae stopped soon after. _Thankfully_.

.

He was eight years old and it was his first week in the Academy. He met one Shikamaru Nara; who have _stars_ shine in his lazy eyes, and his shadow is ebony black compared to other's. His hair styled like pineapple and his skin is pale white. Different from Naruto, who just can't keep his attention to the class with wisps of colors flying around, and with wind's aria mixed with fae's giggles and occassional melody from _somewhere_ in the class, Shikamaru is always sleeping in class. Naruto knows this because he sits on the back too, to avoid attention when he's trying to tug a translucent red string or when he's covering his ears because some kids are playing pranks and the fae cackled in glee.

Yet... yet Shikamaru is so smart.

First month on Academy and every time the sensei throw a question at him, Shikamaru would answer correctly while Naruto... well Naruto got distracted _again_ by the fae which floats behind the _sensei_ , whispering another foul things. Naruto scowls, and the sensei is offended, and then he gets kicked out of class.

Always. Like that.

So one day, Naruto said to Shikamaru, "you have stars in your eyes."

And the other glanced at Naruto lazily. Naruto's blue eyes, however, completely entranced by the sparkling stars in Shikamaru's eyes.

"They are so brilliant 'tebayo." He murmured. "But your shadow's ebony dark. Darker than other's."

Shikamaru widened his eyes. Naruto doesn't notice that.

"Is it the stars or the shadow which makes you smart?"

Sparkling, brilliant stars looks at Naruto's sky blue straightly and Naruto widens his eyes as this is the first time Shikamaru gives his full attention on something and being the side which gets the attention is... uncomfortable? Makes him nervous?

"What?" Naruto warily, defensively, asks.

"Say... Naruto, isn't it? What were you doing?"

Now it's Naruto's turn to be surprised.

"You hardly pay any attention to class." Shikamaru lazily says, "once, you tried to tug something. Other times you look around, looking at.. something."

Should he tell him? Not even Hokage-Jiji knows about this, so Naruto is still hesitant. But then, Hokage-Jiji is always busy and he will probably takes what Naruto says to his imagination. Why do Hokage-Jiji ignores them anyway? How did he ignore all of them? Shikamaru, on the other hand, is the type to listen. Even though Shikamaru would probably ignore everything (like his Jiji), too, at least Naruto has someone to listen to. And if he could drown all of this sounds around him with him talking with Shikamaru, then he would absolutely do it.

So Naruto takes a deep breath, and _hushing_ his world to the Nara. Hoping Shikamaru would be aware, too.

That was how Uzumaki Naruto become Shikamaru Nara's best friend (and later, much, _much_ later, his exclusive translator; as the others like to call him). It was how one Shikamaru Nara decreased his sleep quota in classes.

.

"The wind also sings," Naruto whispered, looking out from the class window, followed by Shikamaru, who also looks outside.

"They told stories, y'know. Aria. I don't understand why none of you hear it. Their songs are very beautiful, y'know. Once, they told be about Samurais and white land, covered in ice and snow, ruling strong with a piece of long metal called katana. They also told me about a desert, near the leaves, and of the Sand King trapped in a living prison." Naruto shows his toothy grin to Shikamaru beside him, who glances at his grin lazily. "I really want to meet that Sand King, y'know! Maybe we could—"

Naruto stopped, and looked outside, blue eyes widening and Shikamaru glances outside again; but found nothing other than trees which leaves are swayed very, very subtly, and glances at Naruto again. The sensei hasn't noticed them not paying attention, but Shikamaru is sure it would be soon.

"Naruto—"

To Shikamaru's surprise, Naruto mottered a soft "Sssh," and then, the wind outside picked up—rustling the trees for a seemingly long time. Shikamaru widened his eyes as his sceptical feeling (yes, he's still sceptical about Naruto's world; they are just so.. _bizzare_ , it _couldn't_ be true) disappeared to thin air.

 _The wind sings_. Shikamaru realized, Naruto is listening to the wind's song.

It's as if time stopped for Shikamaru; the sound of his sensei's voice drowned with rustling leaves and whistling summer wind. Time in which Naruto whispered, "It's about the Weeping Land," a pause, "A Weeping Land who misses the Sun."

.

Later that day, the class learned about elemental countries. Shikamaru could only stare dumbly when their sensei began explaining about Tetsu no Kuni, the Land of Iron, which is manned by Samurais. _Just like what Naruto said_. And then they moved to Hidden Villages; Sunagakure, a Village in the Middle of Desert, and Amegakure, a small Village which, true to its name, always will rain. A weeping land who misses the sun fits the description perfectly. _Again, just like what Naruto said_.

But then...

Shikamaru looks at the blond who sits beside him, blue eyes trailing up and outside—seeing what Shikamaru couldn't see—and thinks, who or what is the Sand King, then?

The young Nara feels a hand grips his hand, and he looks to Naruto, who is pointing something outside, to someone—a ninja, who is walking to the Academy. A teacher, perhaps.

"Can you see the stains?" Naruto hushed, with no small amount of dread in his voice.

"What stain?" Shikamaru lazily drawls, and the jounin disappeared from their view.

Naruto turns his head to look at Shikamaru, frowned, but then the horror is still there. "How can you ignore it? It—it's practically all over his body'tebayo!" Naruto says, almost frantic.

Shikamaru opens his mouth, about to reply, but then his voice was never came as his sensei hollered.

"NARUTO! SHIKAMARU!"

The both of them jolted, and well, as expected, the sensei began yelling at them about proper ninja attitude, even though mostly he yelled at Naruto (who is fidgeting and looks pale, obviously ignoring the yelling). In the end, they both kicked out of the class for their behavior.

Now standing side by side, Shikamaru can't help but asks,

"Actually, Naruto, what can you _see_?"

Naruto looks stunned at this.

"You—you don't see them?"

"See what?"

The blond's hand began flailing around, his face incredulous, "this!" he said, pointing to a wave of colors floating in front of him (for Naruto) or empty air (for Shikamaru), but Naruto is not finished, "you know, the fae who whispered things to our sensei so he only yelled at me'ttebayo! Also, they are the ones who caused other kids to be so mean! Didn't you—all of you, ignore them for too long?!"

Shikamaru stares, dumbfounded, then shakes his head. Shikamaru knows Naruto is going to blow by how he opens his mouth, he's about to yell, that's for sure, so Shikamaru silenced him first with a,

"Naruto, we can't see them,"

Naruto faltered.

"I can't see what you see. In fact, maybe no other than you can see them."

"But—"

Shikamaru pointed at one of the Academy's teacher , which they could see from the office's window, and asks, "what did you see, Naruto?"

"...is he sick?" Naruto asks, after a moment, frowns, "those purple lines on his face are not pretty."

The young Nara nods; have been expecting that kind of answer, and said, "that's Igarashi-san, a friend of my father's. He has been sick for a long time."

Naruto blinks in realization.

"You want to know what i see, Naruto?" Shikamaru drawls, "i see Igarashi-san, with his usual pale face, filling his paperworks."

You could almost hear a pin drop in the silence.

That was how Naruto Uzumaki realized that he's the only one who can see. That's when he first thinks that maybe, the villagers have been right all along, on how freaky he actually is.

(Seriously, the low growls, clanking chains and dripping water need to stop. Naruto doesn't need anymore _mocking_ than the fae's cackles.)

.

.

 _Naruto stared._  
 _Sasuke stared back, and shifts uncomfortably._

 _Naruto has always been.. weird, to put it mildly. He and Shikamaru Nara. Shikamaru has always been quiet and sort of lazy, but he's smart and he's always there in case someone stare incredulously at what Naruto says. Naruto, on the other hand, spoke of armors and wings, of winds whispering and heart singing—it never make any sense, except for one Shikamaru Nara who seems to understand every nonsense Naruto speaks. And Sasuke hasn't expected the blond to stare intently at him like this._

 _Then he tilted his head, frowns, and hums, "You preen the stain too much, 'tebayo."_

What _._

 _Naruto fidgets, and his hands twitched, as if itchy to something, and glanced to the empty air around the Uchiha before he says, "It's—It's so noisy, y'know? You let them broke and sings discord like this-" Naruto scowls to thin air, "the cackles doesn't help," he grunted. Then a pause before, "you should let the rope go, too. It doesn't help you mend the broken blade."_

 _Yeah, Sasuke decided, Naruto Uzumaki doesn't make any sense at all._

 _._

 _._

 _A/N_

 _YET ANOTHER PLOT BUNNYYYYY YEAH_

 _Okay i'm sorry i keep making new works ugh i'm cryin. And yes, this is inspired by_ _ **Metronome I Hear**_ _'s_ _ **There Are Stars In Your Eyes**_ _. Of course, i can't be as poetic as her, and i'm taking my own take on this._

 _This story is a complete AU. So, Naruto sees and hears things and Shikamaru is the one who understands them. Naruto himself is too distracted to understand what does everything he sees and hears means. Of course, he will try to learn how to understands them himself, but in the mean time it would be Shikamaru's job. Basically? Naruto just_ _knows_ _things._

 _Thank you for reading! And if you decided to follow/fav this story... Expect surprises, i guess._


	2. Chapter 2

_Little six years old Naruto closes his ears, and hides behind the Hokage's chair. Hokage-Jiji raised an eyebrow but made no move to inquire or lift Naruto's little body to his laps, because the office's door opened and another old man enters._

 _Naruto gasped._

 _The new old man, with bandage covers one of his eye and one of his hand; a black bird (crow? Eagle?) perched on his shoulder. A black bird with black glinting eyes who squawked when Naruto's blue eyes looks at it, and he yelped. Completely unaware how the old man looks at him or how Hokage-Jiji frowns at him._

 _Naruto hides behind his surrogate-grandfather's chair, covering his ears from those discord and painful melody from pieces of—of—something_ precious _which turned to pieces._

 _(_ "Danzo, my old friend, what brings you here?" _)_

 _Hokage-Jiji talks with that old man. Danzo-jiji, was it? He talked and talked and Naruto doesn't understand what are they talking about, too distracted by black ashen armor the other Jiji uses, too scared to look for too long because there are ghostly gray faces (crying, laughing, wailing, human faces) which twists on that armor, twist on the sparkling precious prieces which littered the black plate. And the bird's clicking parrot everytime it pecks those—those sparkling_ precious _pieces makes his stomach churn._

 _The golden monkey frowns; Jiji's golden armor shines, as if trying to assures Naruto that everything is fine but little Naruto is, embarrassingly, still scared. Naruto grabs Hokage-Jiji's white robe in front of him tightly, closes his eyes, and wishing for the discord melody to stop, wishing for the other Jiji to just go away._

 _( '_ Warmonger _,' Naruto peered just in time to see one of the faces cries and wails,_ 'warmonger _,' the other faces giggled and laughs and then cry even as the precious pieces littered around sparkled an eerie light; they chant, '_ warmonger, warmonger warmonger warmonger war—' _)_

.

.

The first time Chouji Akamichi meets Naruto Uzumaki, it's also the first time he becomes friends Shikamaru Nara.

Chouji was nine years old and they were mocking Chouji again, those civilian kids. Said that he will never be a proper ninja because he's fat, and he's ugly, and there will be no ninja who wants him to work for them, and that he should just give up his bento and just go home already, and—and Chouji can't bring himself to fight them because Chouji knows that they don't know. His clan's jutsu which needs big bones.

"—hey! It's not true! You know that'tebayo!"

The ring-leader stopped, and turned away to sneer to a one blond kid who scowls fiercely and pointing at his marry-band group of bully. There's another kid, which walks slowly behind the blond (he's literally dragging his feet, Chouji realizes), which he recognizes as Shikamaru Nara, a son of his father's friend. They met several times, since their fathers are close and sometimes they play together. But it's only that. They are... never really that close to be called friends.

"Crap, boss, it's the crazy-demon!" One of them muttered.

"Yeah? What of it? He's crazy, and he's a demon, so _what_?" The ring-leader sneered.

"B-but boss! He could—"

"Stop whispering to them! It's not true and you know it'tebayo!"

The leader's attention, to Chouji's dread, has turned fully to the blond. "Hah?! What are you talking about, demon?!"

But to Chouji's surprise, the blond (Naruto, Chouji's dazed mind rememberd, Naruto Uzumaki, the kid who speaks nonsense and nicknamed crazy because of it. Naruto Uzumaki who is eerily calm and boisterous at the same time, who always look _everywhere_ yet _nowhere_ at the same time. Chouji rememberd how his blue eyes meet Chouji's brown orbs that one time and Chouji _shudders_ ) turned his blue eyes at the ring-leader, and _stared_.

Stared, for a seemingly long time and one of them stepped back in (to Chouji's amazement) fear, and the others are obviously wary to the blond kid.

"She is hurting, but she doesn't want you to do this."

Chouji blinked, most of the bullies blinked.

Their leader, however, abruptly _stiffens_.

"I like your drumming melody'tebayo. They do, too. And she must love it. After all, it's fueled by her too."

The ring-leader's face become as pale as sheet but by the way Naruto frowns and hums, he is obviously isn't finished. Chouji almost shudders when he looks at Naruto's sky blue eyes, staring up and straight, unflinching and stand tall even if he's thin and obviously the ring-leader could pummel Naruto to the ground in a second. Those blue eyes which eerily stares down and deep yet stares nowhere at the same time.

"The fae are meany, you know. They've led you astray for a long time, it seems. It just needs to be repaired a liiitle bit'tebayo." Naruto awkwardly shuffles his feet then, "she—she misses _you_."

Then, to everyone's surprise, the ring-leader turned around and abruptly runs away. Soon, followed by the distraught bullies, who also runs away while glancing warily at the blond.

It was a quiet, awkward moment, before Naruto turned to face Chouji and his blue eyes _lit_ under the sunset's sky, and he grinned so bright it should hurt,

"Hi! The fae are so mean to them, i hope they don't really mean to you'tebayo!"

Chouji looks at Shikamaru, he's confused and he's lost to what the blond means. His childhood friend gurdgingly muttered 'troublesome,' before he stepped up to stand beside Naruto and lazily, with a completely flat tone which is unique of his, says,

"What he means is, 'I'm Uzumaki Naruto and this is my friend Shikamaru Nara. Are you okay, Chouji?'"

And that's how Chouji befriends Uzumaki Naruto and Shikamaru Nara. It was how he, no matter how lost he is at times with what Naruto says, find himself always enjoy Naruto's story and soon, Chouji finds himself listening to dances of wind and leaves and chiming wind bells.

(Later, Chouji will learn that his bullies's ring-leader's mother has been sick (it's a bad sickness, she needs to be bed-ridden); that he has not been a bully before and he _apologizes_ because he has vented his frutration on Chouji.

Chouji, on the other hand, remembered how Naruto mentioned a woman that day he talked the bullies away. Rememberd Naruto's firm ' _she is hurting_ , _but she doesn't want you to do this_ ' and ' _she misses you'_ and could only _stare_ at Naruto, who is currently looking up at the sky, then tilted his head to thin air, then grins to the trees, "Hi for you too, little one!". Then Chouji turned to Shikamaru to ask for an explanation, but the Nara only yawns, glances lazily at Chouji, and shakes his head. A nonverbal for 'don't ask.')

Naruto Uzumaki is odd, and maybe a little bit crazy, but as long as Shikamaru Nara ("And you too, mini-giant! Now you are my friend, too'tebayo!" Naruto quipped) and Chouji Akamichi is there with him, everything would be fine.

("I don't understand why they called you fat. You just have big bones, mini-giant. Not fat. Fat are ugly things, mostly. Your big bones are not." Naruto nonchalantly says, as he looks at sunset sky, distracted by waves of rainbow which floats and dances in the air.

Silence.

Then, the mini-giant _cried_. His flickering, white strong bones inside his skin bristles as the mini-giant rubbed his eyes with his hand.

Naruto looks at Shikamaru in horror and confusion but Shikamaru just stiffly shakes his head. Meaning that even the star-eyed-shadow-bender doesn't know what happened. The stars have not been helping him on this one! What should Naruto do now?

Awkwardly, Naruto begins, "I—uh, mini-giant I'm sor—"

"Thank you."

Naruto blinked. The bones shimmer softly as the mini-giant grins, and even if Naruto is still confused, Naruto also nods, and mimicks his grins.

"I don't know what happened, but sure'ttebayo!")

.

.

 _A/N I guess, i'll focus on childhood arc for a while. I mean, well, i want to show you guys that Naruto's life is already different from his childhood. For one, he's more calm and he doesn't do pranks that often as he's mostly distracted by everything around him. And he have friends, too. I hope you enjoy this short piece._

 _P.S. I'm actually itchy to write how Naruto meets Itachi for the first time but... it would be spoiler so you have to wait for a few chapters. Thanks for the review, fav and follow, guys! 30+ favs, 70+ follows, and 10 reviews! Wow you guys are rock!_


	3. Chapter 3

" _I'm scared,_ Jiji _."_

 _Hiruzen looks down; to where little seven years old Naruto sits on his lap and hugs his waist tightly with his little hands. His chubby face was buried within his white robes; trembling shoulders which pressed to his diaphragm made the Sandaime frowns. What could possibly cause his boisterous, brave little sunshine trembled in fear? What could possibly cause his surrogate grandson refused to go back to his apartment? True, he was stubborn and naughty; all little boys his age are, but he normally understand his job as The Hokage and obeyed when Hiruzen told him to go back._

 _But tonight..._

 _The Hokage sets a grandfather smile and pats the blond's golden locks reassuringly; blue eyes peered up from behind white robes._

" _There is nothing to be scared of, Naruto."_ Jiji _calmly says; blue orbs hesitantly peeks up and Naruto buried his face again in the Sandaime's white robes and lets_ Jiji's _wrinkled hand ruffles his spiky blond hair, "_ Inu _-san will accompany you back, Naruto-kun. He will protect you, like he always do."_

 _Hiruzen looks down in time to meet Naruto's sky blue again, and hesitantly, the blonde leaned away and his hug loosened. The sandaime watches as Naruto hesitates, squirming on his Jiji's lap._

" _But—"_

 _(But the sky is so dark, Naruto wants to say, but the outside world is noisy with distant wails of those tainted with red, wails and cries which taints the sky black in agony. The black and red blood ink covered the sky; it made Naruto sick, it made him wants to cry, it made him loathe those colors, it made him wants to be always to feel the hum of his Jiji's golden robe, which could calm him and dampen the wails down. The Golden Monkey is not there, but his_ Jiji _and the warm feeling of his office is enough to calm Naruto down.)_

 _A frown marred the older's face. Naruto almost never squirm; except when he's found guilty of pranks and was forced to admit it. But even then, he doesn't hesitate for too long. Hiruzen's hand moved on top of Naruto's little hand which fisted his white robe. More gentle than before, he assures the younger one, again, "It would be okay, Naruto-kun."_

 _The blond cutely scrunched up his nose, then glared at the floor, before he slowly, hesitantly, drags his feet down from his surrogate grandfather's lap. A pleased smile curved on Hiruzen's face, one hand circling Naruto's shoulder beside him. The ANBU Inu—Hatake Kakashi flickers to existence in front of him; kneels down, head bowed down, awaiting orders and perhaps, helping him assuring the young Naruto._

 _He opens his mouth for a little good-night for little Naruto before he left—but the blond suddenly flinched violently in his hand; alarms rang inside the Professor's mind as he observes how the little blond widens his blue bright orbs fearfully to the window outside._

 _Little Naruto sobbed. He closes his eyes, and quickly jumps to the Sandaime, clinging, hugging him even more tightly than before._

 _(They are_ screaming _now. No longer wailing in distant but screaming in a fierce, sad sad agonizing cries. Something—many_ things _broke that night; Naruto could hear the crack and almost able to see the red and violet splatter when he closes his eyes. So he chooses to blink. And blink. And blink. Blinking his tears down, blinking the red moon hanging on ink black sky away, blinking the images of how the fae has gone completely still; their white shadowy images perched around the buildings and trees like an eerie flickering statues. Naruto almost wished for the fae to start giggling or laugh, if only to dampen the screams and cries of help. If only to stop the red from spreading on the sky._

'— _hate—right!'_

'— _die! Konoha—scum—'_

 _Naruto buried his face under the golden armor, hides his ears behind Jiji's white robes but still, it's not enough to dampen their screams._

'— _help—son—'_

' _Don't—please—!'_

'— _fault! War—nger!'_

 _He sobbed harder, wishing for his own cries to dampens their cries, wishing for the screams to stop._

' _Kill—'_

' _Warmonger!'_

' _It's the warmonger's doing!'_

' _Warmonger! Warmonger!_ _ **Warmonger**_ _!')_

 _An ANBU flickered in existence right beside the kneeling figure of Kakashi; his white porcelain mask and some of his gear covered in splatters of blood._

" _Urgent message, Hokage-sama. The Uchiha Clan has been massacred." The ANBU operative with Dolphin mask said with a monotonous, neutral tone, but even then, the slight tremble in his voice betrays his firm cover. His voice is barely above whispers as his eyes flickers to the trembling, sobbing figure of little Naruto Uzumaki hugging the Sandaime's waist. "Itachi Uchiha has gone rogue and massacred everyone in Uchiha Clan but his own little brother."_

 _Slowly, Sandaime circled his hands around the sobbing figure of his surrogate grandson and, again, he thought, he is far too old to handle all of this._

.

.

The only lesson he'll take notice to, after all this time studying in the academy, is probably _ninjutsu_. Throwing kunais and _taijutsu_ too, maybe. But the fae always distracts him when he threw his kunais or shurikens; the projectile went too far and then the class laughed at him. Also he always got his ass whipped in every _taijutsu_ spars by that smug face of duck-butt Sasuke, so they are less pleasant.

They are ten years old and it's the third year of Academy for Naruto. They began learning how to unlock his chakra the first time around. They learned on one of open field around the Academy—not the training grounds—and Iruka- _sensei_ began explaining about chakra and how to unlock them. It's a pretty boring explanation; you can't exactly blame Naruto for staring distractedly at the grey stains on Iruka-sensei's jounin vest and the fae giggling behind his _sensei_ , or the sleeping Shikamaru, or the Mini-giant who is too focused with his chips than with the explanation.

And then for the practice, the _sensei_ didn't actually do anything, too! Beside than sits down cross-legged in front of them, put a green leaf on his forehead, closed his eyes, and then the leaf suddenly glued to his forehead. There are excited gasps or some even cheers as Iruka- _sensei_ flipped and the leaf still glued to his forehead. Enough noise to make Shikamaru woke up to attention and for the Mini-giant to abandon his chips for some seconds.

Okay, Naruto thinks—as he scrunched up his nose and tried his best to ignore the wind's distant aria—okay, so Iruka- _sensei_ said _chakra_ is important for _ninja_ life and it's something to do _ninjutsu_ , one of shinobi's weapon. But what is _ninjutsu_ again?

"What is _ninjutsu_ , Shika?"

Shikamaru yawned, and sighed heavily because it's already the _umpteenth_ time the blond asked that today, and slowly drawled, "it's a manipulation of elements around, or of some cases, energy around us, to create powerful attacks using chakra, Naruto."

Alright, that's the definition of _ninjutsu_ but, that doesn't explain why they should glue leave on their forehead. Shouldn't they be, like, just try to bend the elements? Like right now? What is the correlation between stucking leaf and _ninjutsu_ anyways? Naruto opens his mouth to hollers at his _sensei_ ; maybe even mocks that annoying fae which makes Iruka- _sensei_ always give Naruto this disdainful stare, but stopped short when he sees Shikamaru picks a stray leave, slap it on his forehead, and it glued on his yawning face.

Naruto watched, fascinated, as blue strings circled around the leaf, locking Shikamaru's leaf tightly on his forehead. That blue strings, dozens of them; thin yet firm, covers almost all surface of the leaf, shimmers under the afternoon's sun, almost translucent, and if he is not close to Shikamaru from the beginning, he wouldn't notice it.

Shikamaru resigned to his fate as his blond oddball of a friend crawled close to him and began poking the leaf on his forehead with his face a mere inch away from his own face. Intense, curious blue eyes looking at something which Shikamaru can't see. Chouji however, almost choked by his own spit seeing Naruto closed the distance between him and Shikamaru, trapped the shadow-bender with his hands, and leaned his face on the other's face. If Shikamaru wants to care, which he obviously isn't, he might have similar reactions, but he's always the 'whatever' type so.

Then the blond leaned back a moment after, and a grin so wide broke on his face it should _hurt_ , "So that's what _Jiji_ means by _chakra_! Those blue strings! They caused the leaf to stuck!"

Shikamaru yawned again, and counts his effort to stop Naruto from hollering 'THIS EXCERCISE IS USELESS, _SENSEI_! I WANT _REAL_ _NINJUTSU_ TRAINING'TTEBAYO!' or something along those lines to their _sensei_ is a complete success. As the pineapple-haired leaned back to a tree behind him, watched the other kids in their class struggles to keep a leaf stuck on their forehead, watched Naruto's determined eyes as he collects a _mountain_ of leaves, he found himself becoming sleepy easily, and soon, he fell down to sleep. Again.

(He doesn't expect to see leaves monster in front of him when he wakes up though.

And turns out, this leaves monster is actually Naruto who somehow managed to covers his face, his hands, and even his neck with _dozens_ of leaves. Shikamaru's eyebrow twitched when he hears Naruto's laugh rang through the clearing.)

.

Soon, using those blue strings which called _chakra_ become the only thing Naruto learned from the academy. He could somehow drown all the colors around, all the giggles around him as he tried to attach the leaf to his forehead that time. Naruto almost feels... peaceful when he closed his eyes that time. He could hear and feel nothing but the steady, warm, yet distant hum of _something_ inside him. Naruto reached to that feeling, and to his happy grin, the leaf actually stucked—before it cracked and tore down to pieces in front of his very eyes, seconds after. That was, Naruto admits, kinda his shitty first tries, and he just _have_ to fell down on mountain of leaves first (on a fit of frustration) before he could figure out how to do it properly, but hey, it all worked in the end!

(Naruto blissfully ignores how Shikamaru said that sticking dozens of leaves on your body is very different from stucking a mere leaf on his forehead. He could rub this _accomplishment_ on that butt face of Sasuke- _teme_. Seeing his glare that time was _so_ worth it.)

So when their teacher showed how to do _bunshin_ , too, Naruto practically whooped and bounced in joy. Because, even though he doesn't understand the explanation like at all, at least the practice is something to behold. Naruto watched, with intense eyes, as Iruka- _sensei_ in front of their class formed a seal (is it Ram? Tiger? He have to ask Shikamaru later on that) with his hands; the blue strings of _chakra_ , small and translucent they might be, covers the entirety of Iruka-sensei's hands in a smooth layer. Naruto realized a little too late as the colors beside Iruka-sensei's abruptly compressed and knitted; smoke covers that space, and then, another Iruka- _sensei_ stood on that place.

Naruto gaped, along as the shocked yet awed gasps of his classmates and claps from some of them.

The Iruka- _sensei_ No.2 looks eerily real, and Naruto might buy it if only Iruka-sensei No.2 doesn't shimmer with odd colors and blue light. His blue eyes squinted, and yes, he could see _rainbows_ , literally, right under Iruka-sensei No.2's figure. It's like his skin, his body, his clothes, and just—his entire being was made form flickering rainbows, and when he leaned front to get a better look, those colors also accompanied by thin blue strings. But hey, that was Iruka-sensei's _chakra_ , isn't it?

Naruto scratched the back of his head, obviously confused. And when the _bunshin_ disappeared in a puff of smoke, Naruto could only frown more.

"Naruto,"

He looks up—to see wisps of colors around him, and the fae occasionally floats around it, and frowns more.

"Naruto,"

He always wonder what those colors actually are, but his curiosity never went far from 'what is that?' which accompanied by a 'meh,' soon after because it's not really important. Like how the fae, the white rabbit, the giggling flowers exist, the colors exist too. Just as it is. But now, how Iruka-sensei's _bunshin_ was made of those colors which knitted by blue strings, Naruto can't just ignore it.

"Naruto!"

A blink—and Shikamaru's annoyed frown appeared in front of him. Another blink, with Naruto looks around the class and gaped again.

"Hey! Where'd everyone go?!"

Shikamaru sighs heavily (he does that often these days) and Naruto can't help but to compare him with Miss Yashiro's heavy sighs when she has to deal with those naughty children back in orphanage.

"They're already out, Naruto. We have to go home too."

"Oh, hehehe," he said, and a sheepish smile was given to Shikamaru who trotted down from his desk and walked out of the class. Naruto followed, easily trotted beside the shadow-bender.

Maybe, if he looked at the _bunshin_ more closely, he could find a clue. Maybe if Shikamaru could do the _bunshin_ like that time with the leaf, Naruto would understand more of it.

.

Turns out he understand a bit of it, thanks to Shikamaru's demonstration.

So the hand seals, it helped him and basically everyone to bring out the _chakra_ strings, see, and it's easier to make those chakra strings knits the colors and wove them to form a clone. Naruto can't see it at first, but slowly he could see those _chakra_ strings literally _flew_ from his hand seal to the air and pulls the colors together. Okay, but that still doesn't explain the smoke very well—yet Naruto is not about to complain, not when the smoke adds some nice dramatics effects.

Naruto tried, too, but to his utter disappointment, his _bunshin_ turned to an ugly, white alien thing. Sure, his chakra strings (so many of them, why are there more of them than in Shikamaru's or Iruka-sensei's _bunshin_?) formed a humanoid, but then it has no features other than his spiky hair. It's so limpy, white, and ugly, Naruto was _horrified_. The colors underneath the white limp thing is even more ugly; they mismatched and they don't form rainbows or aurora like Shikamaru's or Iruka-sensei's _bunshin_. His _chakra_ strings, Naruto decided, is very _very_ suck on picking the right colors to knit. That must be what caused his _bunshin_ to be so ugly.

(In another way, _he_ is the one who sucks, but Naruto is not going to admit that out loud. As always, he remains oblivious to Shikamaru's blank stare when he began groaning and complaining for his 'ugly blue stings')

But he is Naruto Uzumaki, and he is not going to give up that easily. Maybe if he practices more, his _chakra_ string would eventually get used to the surrounding and they will be able to pick the right colors. Maybe if he does it again and again his _chakra_ would become smart!

And yet, he already practiced for—well, he didn't count how many times, but he isn't tired yet even though the sun's already going to set again, so it must be a _lot_. But still, all of his _bunshins_ today are ugly, white, limpy, and looks like alien, and the colors makes him sick, and ugly and limpy, and it's just. So. Frustrating!

"I don't understand!" He yelled, frustrated, throwing his hands up as Shikamaru yawned. Naruto's ugly white _bunshin_ disappeared in a puff of smoke. His fingers ruffled his blond locks messy and he pounced on the dirt, groaning. "Why can't they pick the right colors?! What is wrong with them?!"

Naruto hears a small 'troublesome,' before Shikamaru speaks up, "you put too much _chakra_ on your _bunshin_ , Naruto."

The blond sets a blank look on his pineapple-hair friend. He doesn't remember when did Shikamaru came to the clearing, watched the sky, and then watch him train. And he doesn't understand what Shikamaru just said, either.

"Try making more than just one _bunshin_."

He doesn't understand why he should do that, but the stars in Shikamaru's eyes are gleaming confidently and Naruto nods anyway, forming the seal and concentrates on making ten bunshins. To his amazement, half of his _bunshin_ actually began to have colors; like his orange jacket shows, and his blond hair shows too. The tenth _bunshin_ even have some features on his face! Like the curve for his eyes! Naruto ignored the other half of his bunshins, which looks very much like alien he have been making today.

Soon, the bunshins disappeared in a puff of smoke and Naruto tries again, he formed the seal and concentrates to make twenty bunshins. A grin so wide formed on his face because for once, all his bunsins has pretty colors inside them; kitted by blue and violet strings which he failed to notice before. Curiosity of what those violet strings mean forgotten as he whooped in joy and jumped to Shikamaru who, seems as lazy as always and sways when the blond hugs him. But his sigh is all Naruto needs to know that Shikamaru is relieved too to see his achievement.

(Again, Naruto blissfully, with a stupid, side grin on his face, ignored Shikamaru's remarks of how forming one _bunshin_ and twenty _bunshins_ at the same time is different. How is it different? They are all successful in the end, anyways.)

.

.

" _Can i hug you?"_

 _One Shisui Uchiha startled by the statement from one young blond kid beside him. Even more so when Shisui hasn't realized when did the kid appear and sits beside him, on this silent park, alone. A strained smile curved on his mien as Shisui chuckled softly, ignoring the kid's intent blue eyes (as if he's looking to something more, as if he's tearing Shisui's very soul down with his gaze—ah, he must be too exhausted to think that) and ruffles his spiky blond hair._

" _Why?" Shisusi playfully chided, "doesn't your parents told you not to talk or even hug a stranger?"_

 _The blond kid frowned, and tilt his head in confusion. Again, those sapphire eyes trailed around for a moment—Shisui observes this with a raised eyebrow—before the blond kid nodded, as if convinced of something._

" _Jiji says that about bad strangers. You are not a bad stranger,'ttebayo!"_

 _Now, Shisui is amused. "How so?"_

 _The kid shrugged, and nodded confidently again, now accompanied by a wide grin. "I just know'ttebayo! Believe it!" A pause before, "so can i?"_

 _Obsidian eyes blinked, before Shisui shrugged, "sure, kid. Come here."_

 _His grin widened—Shisui just noticed the whisker-marks on the blond kid's face moved as his grin widens—and before he knows it, the little blond Jinchuuriki already circled his hands on Shisui's waist, hugging him tightly. Uzumaki Naruto, Shisui remembers, as he part the blond, spiky locks, and rest his head on the kid's head._

" _Don't be sad," The Uchiha hears the kid murmurs, and feels more than see Naruto's little hands pats his back, "i think you have battled enough, with that scars and ruined armor. Poor lone warrior."_

 _The last part was said with barely a whisper, but it's enough to make Shisui frown, confused. Naruto the Jinchuuriki kid pulled away, and he looks up; sky meets black gleaming granite and Shisui suppressed a shudder. Those eerie, intent blue eyes..._

" _Where are you going, Warrior-san?"_

 _Shisui blinked. "Excuse me?"_

" _Where will you go'ttebayo?" Naruto asked again, "the wind said it's not wise to face the Warmonger alone, Warrior-san."_

 _Obsidian orbs widened on pale eyes._

" _It's more dangerous so with those wounds and sloppy knits, you know. You are going to fall."_

 _(The violet warrior with blue flames which hovers behind Warrior-san looks down, and somehow Naruto knows, that even the violet warrior is sad. His blue flames dimmed and his gleaming violet armor tattered and almost broken; white sword covered with red and brown and cracked with wounds. Naruto thinks the black chains around his armor is to keep the broken armor in place, but no, from this close, Naruto knows that the chains are what dragging the violet warrior down. The armor screeched painfully under the weight of sadness and... (Naruto swallowed) and death._

 _Warrior-san is no better, too. Black stains and chains covered his body and tangled his skin; his flickering black-and-red eyes widens in surprise. Naruto ignored that, as a melancholy song and ringing pieces echoes and drown any other sounds away._

 _The Violet Warrior and Warrior-san is going to die, and Naruto probably shouldn't warn him, as every attempt leads to the fae's giddiness but... but the fae is quiet around Warrior-san. Warrior-san, who is pale, and tired, and hurting, and just... sad. And that is worrying, even though Naruto can't tell exactly why._

 _Did his hug able to comfort his silent cry?  
Did his hug able to at least return a little of beautiful and cheerful pieces, from the charred remains behind those black chains?)_

" _Thank you, Warrior-san!" Naruto grinned and beamed, because that's what he does best; and_ Jiji _said that his grin always makes him smile, his hands pats Warrior-san's hand, which somehow has become very quiet and stiff, but Naruto continues, "you've done many great battles, right? And that's great, you know!"_

" _Yeah," Shisui's shoulder sags, and he trembled as he tried to hold back his cry (this kid, how did he understand? How did he able to see? His thanks is sincere and his concern behind his warning earlier is more so) and pulled a grin on his face. "Yeah," Shisui repeats, more lighter as if something heavy has been lifted from his chest and it's easier to breath._

 _His beady black eyes looks at the kid's innocent grin, and Shisui chuckled._

 _Shisui Uchiha is a loyal_ shinobi _of Konoha and he, by no means, is a selfish person. But even then, he wants to be selfish, he wants the whole village or the world to know how hard he tries to protect this village. He wants praises. Was it so hard for people to simply thank him for what he sacrifices for the village?_

 _Shisui imagined every kid in the village smiled as bright as this blond kid, and suddenly, he doesn't feel that heavy anymore. He doesn't feel as burdened anymore on putting a Kotoamatsukami on Danzo, or thinking that he will probably die in the process. He will do everything to curve that bright smile on everyone in the village. Even if he have to sacrifices himself._

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 _A/N IT TAKES SO LONG FOR ME TO UPDATE IM SO SORRY_

 _Anyways, it's already holiday here, so maybe i can update more faster. I don't know, maybe. And thanks for you guys's excitement! It gave me life to continue this piece! 90+ favs, 100+ follows (CHEERS!), and 30 reviews! I can't thank you guys enough!_

 _I was going to conclude childhood arc on this chapter; my target is this chapter is done until graduation but then i got distracted and swept away by Uchiha massacre. Weeps. And i love Uchiha Shisui i can not resis writing about him._

 _Omniscient can also be translated as infinite understanding, so yeah, like smarter but actually not smarter Naruto? Idk, he's just an oddball here. See you guys on next chapter!_


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